A thrilling third round set the stage for Sunday.

The 54-hole lead at the Masters belongs to Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. The Englishman and the Spaniard mounted Saturday charges and passed up Charley Hoffman for the lead down the stretch. Rose has one major championship to his name, a U.S. Open, while Garcia is still striving for his first one.

What isn’t different is that Sergio remains the transcendent talent he’s always been, even at 37. For the better part of 20 years, he’s been one of the game’s best ballstrikers — and he’s still that today. Such might explain part of his success this week. Windy conditions put a premium on striking it solidly. He was absurdly solid through those conditions that rattled so many — one single bogey through the opening 27 holes of the tournament.

Don’t get confused: Sergio Garcia deserves a major championship. If titles were equitable to his contributions to the game, he’d have multiple already. Even though the rivalry that seemed destined from Medinah in ‘99 on with Tiger Woods didn’t materialize, he’s had thousands, millions of fans who have stuck by the mercurial, snakebitten star since he burst onto the scene there so many years ago.